New Kitten With An Older Kitten

[Nadine Aquilina]

Hey everyone, I was wanting to ask regarding behaviors and also introduction to a newer kitten. I have a kitten which is at least 11 months old, recently got a new kitten which is 6 weeks old, both female. The 1st kitten is neutered, and has always been a bit cold towards us in-general, likes to stay away from us and is also easily scared of things surrounding her. The newer kitten seems to be quite confident, friendly and loving. It's been three days since we gotten the new kitten. 1st day, the older kitten has been hissing at us and very upset with us although we been giving her a lot of attention. The 2nd day she seems to be less upset at us but smelling the smell of the other kitten makes her hiss at us and also seems scared of her surroundings. The 3rd day she seems to be calm yet gets upset if we disturb her while she is smelling the other kitten.

The kitten is isolated since day one, although we did try to feed them on different sides of the door and also tried to make them play with a straw underneath the door, 2nd day worked fine, they both ate, the 3rd day, the older kitten seemed to have a problem with it and kept hissing and growling.

I'd like to add that, I also own rabbits and the older kitten never seemed to have a problem with them, in fact she always seemed like she loved playing with them.

Any suggestions? and also is this a normal behavior?

 

[Linda Dwyer]

You can make it work but it may take a little time, when I get a new cat or kitten I put the new one in a large wire dog crate, put in food, water, bed and a toy. This way the older resident cat can get used to the sight and smell of the new cat and get the growling and hissing overwith. Take the kitten out and hold her, the old cat will come to investigate, if it goes well put the kitten on the floor and watch them carefully. Let the kitten out for longer and longer periods of time. It should only take a few days for them to get along ok. But your main problem is having two females. I would have gone for a male kitten but you have her now so you have to work with what you have. There will be a period when you think all is well but if the new kitten is more social and wants to be with you it could make the other jealous and she may try to intimidate the kitten. Just watch them closely and intervene if necessary

 

[kissthisangel]

you can introduce them somewhat successfully. There are several things you can do to try and make it work. I have been through this myself, in this particular thread: Can my cat and my kitten still benefit from a slow introduction if I free feed? where I recorded pretty much every little glitch in the introduction process.

Please bear in mind the cats may never be best of friends, and that's ok. So long as they can tolerate one another in their space then you can build on that.

This particular guide was helpful to me.